Experimental Design Details
The experiment proceeds as follows:
(1) At the beginning of the survey (module 0), the interviewer classifies whether the respondent is a Malaysian national or a refugee of a particular nationality (based on the UNHCR listing of refugees). This classification is confirmed by the respondent.
Within the detailed survey questionnaire, respondents are asked to report whether any of their household members is currently working and what the main occupation of the household (in terms of livelihood) is.
The wording of the vignette links back to this information, by plugging the string of the respondent’s group membership (“refugee from country C”/ “Malaysian”) and the relevant household occupation into the text of the vignette. Separating the construction of the one-shot experiment from the previously indicated group membership and occupation strings within the survey has the advantage that it reduces experimenter demand effects: respondents are less likely to realize that the information in the narrative purposefully matches (or not) their own characteristics and that they are participating in a randomized module.
(2) Respondents are randomly assigned to any of the six equally sized treatment groups (T1 - T6) as described above. Randomization is executed by a computer right before the implementation of the experimental module (11), to avoid unbalancedness due to attrition.
Due to the matching process along with labor market characteristics, only those respondents who indicate that at least one household member is currently working (and thus indicate a main household occupation) can be assigned to T1, T3 or T5.
(3) In the experimental section, respondents will be randomly exposed to a standard narrative about a fictitious individual who belongs to group G and is exerting occupation O.
The random narrative stresses the occupational background of the fictitious character, as well as his identity as a being local Malaysian or refugee of a particular nationality (for Malaysian respondents assigned to an “out-group” treatment, it stresses instead whether the fictitious refugee is born or not born in Malaysia). Narratives are only differing with respect to single words that are inserted for occupation O and group G.
O = {main occupation of the respondent’s household; random occupation R}
The randomly chosen occupation is drawn from a list of jobs that can be plausibly exerted by refugee and host individuals.: R= {Construction laborer, sweeper, cleaner, farmer, restaurant waiter, cook, hawker, salesperson, driver, delivery rider, mechanic, machine operator}
For refugee respondents:
G = {Malaysian; refugee from country X} where X={Rohingya from Myanmar; Burmese from Myanmar; Pakistan; Yemen; Syria; Iraq; Bangladesh; Somalia; Afghanistan}
For host respondents:
G = {Malaysian; refugee from another country born in Malaysia; refugee born in another country}
Single words for group G and occupation O will be auto-filled by a computer, based on survey response in the modules preceding the experimental section.
T1: Respondent listens to a narrative about an in-group member who is working in the same occupation as his household.
T2: Respondent listens to a narrative about an in-group member who is working in a different occupation than his household.
T3: Respondent listens to a narrative about an out-group member (close) who is working in the same occupation as his household.
T4: Respondent listens to a narrative about an out-group member (close) who is working in a different occupation than his household.
T5: Respondent listens to a narrative about an out-group member (far) who is working in the same occupation as his household.
T6: Respondent listens to a narrative about an out-group member (far) who is working in a different occupation than his household.
The narratives take the following form:
“Adam is [group G: same group as respondent’s/ different from respondent’s]. He has (lived in Malaysia his entire life and) moved to the district of [match district of respondent] five years ago. He has been working as a [occupation O: same occupation as respondent’s household/ different occupation] for a long time, so he has a lot of experience in his occupation. He also speaks Bahasa and English very well. He enjoys working in this profession and would recommend his friends to work in the same sector. But while being a [occupation O: same occupation as respondent’s household/ different occupation] fulfills him, he is sometimes very tired after work. Due to difficult circumstances, he has to change jobs while keeping his current profession. So far, he has struggled to find a job.”
The narrative stresses competition in the local labor market by referring to the fictitious character as a local neighbor, living in the same district/ capital. Stories are comparable across all groups (refugees; hosts; different occupations): all four treatment groups’ narratives have the same length and are containing identical information (e.g. duration of stay in this district - thereby similar knowledge and networks; language skills; challenge in finding employment).
The narrative is designed to be politically benign and to avoid raising positive or negative emotions. The vignette always alludes to a fictitious male individual, since the female employment rate is comparatively low in Malaysia, even more so among the refugee population.
While inserting a string for group level G is straightforward, we are implementing one additional step when it comes to occupation group O to make narratives exactly comparable in their length (one to three words).
For individuals who have been randomly assigned to treatment groups T1, T3, or T5 (same occupation), the enumerator will be asked to shorten the occupation string indicated by the respondent.
E.g.: If the respondent states he is an “undergraduate teacher for Maths and sports”, the enumerator is trained to shorten the string to “teacher”.
The narrative will then be based on the shortened version of the string.
For individuals who have been randomly assigned to treatment groups T2, T4, or T6 (different occupation), the computer will randomly draw from the list of occupations mentioned above, that can plausibly be exerted by both Malaysians and refugees.
(4) After the fieldworker reads the narrative to the respondent, the respondent answers questions that
- Make them relate to the story (“Should the character search for work? What would you recommend him/ her to do?”)
- Elicit their willingness to interact with the fictitious individual.
- Elicit actual behavioral stakes, like sharing the phone number and actively interacting subsequently
- Gauge their normative perception concerning labor market integration of the fictitious individual